In Japan, parents take their kids to the playground to build Mesoamerican step pyramids in the sandpit. That's how they roll. Memo to any secret Aztec living in Tokyo, the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu is a little more benevolent than Acolnahuacatl, so put away those obsidian knives. すごい! Photo courtesy of Japan Specialist on Facebook (full disclosure, I'm a Japan Specialist page admin).

"What we needed to create a high level of culture were three things: freedom, justice and efficiency. We will explain these concepts one at a time, beginning with the last, efficiency. "You are shocked by the size of our population, but the space surprises you. Strange, eh? It is not so strange when you realize that you are not shocked by the number of people but by the space that is left over in what to you is a ridiculously overpopulated world. You are shocked by our efficiency. To Us, it is the most normal thing in the world, because without this concept, we simply could not exist. Without efficiency, our world would immediately collapse. You will continually come up against this concept in our explanations because we must make it dear to you how carefully each of the three concepts-freedom, justice and efficiency - we had to employ to reach the level of civilization that can be called stable. "Also, justice is a condition for efficiency.""

I know that many apologists and pundits have weighed in on the Colin Kaepernick’s rebellion in which I and other socially conscious and enlightened black leaders and activist have been engaged in this conversation for decades and centuries. Yet, I applaud this young black athlete for daring to risk his career as a professional football player in order to bring public attention to the high incidents of racially motivated killings of unarmed black men by white police officers. These killings of black men, have a long history in America since our sojourn begin in 1555—lynching and violence against black men, is American as apple pie and baseball. Kaepernick stated: "These aren’t new situations. This isn’t new ground. There are things that have gone on in this country for years and years and have never been addressed, and they need to be. There’s a lot of things that need to change. One specifically? Police brutality. There’s people being murdered unjustly and not being held accountable. People are being given paid leave for killing people. That’s not right. That’s not right by anyone’s standards". The Treyvone Martin case in my opinion set a legal and social precedent that declared open season on black men.

Kaepernick goes on to state: “People of color have been targeted by police. So that’s a large part of it and they’re government officials. They are put in place by the government. So that’s something that this country has to change. There’s things we can do to hold them more accountable. Make those standards higher. You have people that practice law and are lawyers and go to school for eight years, but you can become a cop in six months and don’t have to have the same amount of training as a cosmetologist. That’s insane. Someone that’s holding a curling iron has more education and more training than people that have a gun and are going out on the street to protect us". Most white Americans are a bit hypocritical and they easily forget that the American flag is a symbol of freedom to them and their ancestors due to European settlements in 1607, into the so-called ‘new world’ in which they stole North America (and the Americas) from the Native Americans who had lived in this part of the world for over 16,000 years prior to European settlements. They had migrated by crossing the Bering Strait from Asia—the United States flag symbolizes for white people sovereignty and nationhood, which declared them free from centuries of British colonial rule culminating with the American Revolutionary War in 1776.

However, the U.S. flag and national anthem, have a different meaning to white Americans than it does to black Americans; it is difficult for us to overlook the history of tyranny carried out by the racially inspired despots throughout the history of the United States of America; nevertheless, some of us desire to be politically correct in front of white folk, but behind closed doors many of us share Colin Kaepernick’s political dissention, because deep down inside our history of oppression and subjugation is rooted in our DNA and the murdering of innocent black people by white supremacist police officers is reprehensible and it touches our souls. Many of these white officers never get indicted and/or charged and some of them are even exonerated and/or remedied by Internal Affairs agencies via a so-called bureaucratic process and/or are found not guilty by jury trials (some have even been found civilly wrong but not criminally responsible). This is often viewed by the black community and the families of the victims as clear evidence that the judicial and criminal justice systems are rigged and black folk cannot receive justice. The deaths of Eric Gardner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, etc. But there are countless other black men who are faceless that have been killed by white law enforcement and their cases have never made it to the national news.

The deaths of these black victims only serves as a reminder of the history of hatred, racism and injustice that both the Confederate flag and the American flag have historical had on people of African descent despite of our loyalty and commitment to consider ourselves American citizens (the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the United States Constitution don't mean a damn thing to some of us). This nation fought a 4/1/2 year bloody Civil War (1861-1865) the so-called South verse the North where slavery was the central theme of this conflict in which southern states desired to maintain the most profitable economic system ever recorded in American history known as chattel slavery (this evil system lasted for 310 years) where the south attempted to succeed from the Union.

Kaepernick decided that he had a moral obligation to bring attention to these racist motivated social issues by not standing up during the singing of the national anthem as a protest gesture against black injustices; he stated: "Yes. I’ll continue to sit. I’m going to continue to stand with the people that are being oppressed. To me, this is something that has to change. When there’s significant change and I feel like that flag represents what it’s supposed to represent, this country is representing people the way that it’s supposed to, I’ll stand". Thus, once again let me applaud this athlete for having the courage and audacity to use one of the biggest stages in American culture to bring attention to the social injustices that affects disproportionally African Americans, in particular cases involving police brutality. Kaepernick’s position was brave and if I could have had a personal word with him, I would told him, that I drew the same conclusion some years ago and refused to stand up for the saluting of the American flag and the singing of the national anthem.

Kaepernick understood the United States Constitution better than most of us and was exercising his right to freedom of expression, which was protected by law. His protest should have been immediately received as protected speech under the First Amendment Right to the U.S. Constitution and in my opinion every black athlete should have stood with him in solidarity, because they have a huge stage, which commands huge influence beyond just the world of sport and play. Yes, their collective stance and action would have created mutiny in the sports world, but it would have forced these professional sports conglomerates to view the black athlete different other than just being a Negro commodity. The National Football League is a huge corporation and possesses tremendous economic and political influence, but this well oiled machine has prospered from the gifts and talents of the black athlete (high priced modern slaves and gladiators). I am of the opinion that the NFL has a moral and social obligation to use its power and wealth to support individuals like Colin Kaepernick who sees the broader picture about social issues that affects our community.

Kaepernick's stance is reminding the NFL that the black athlete do not live in a glass house; here is a league that is probably over 65% black men, the issues that affects black men in the larger society cannot be ignored by a league who has built a powerful entertainment economic enterprise off the backs of the same black men who comes from these same communities and demographics and social-economic backgrounds as the victims who are being targeted by white law enforcement and their quick to discover that their newfound success (which often constitute a world of materialism) do not make them immune from being arrested while driving black (they might can change their zip codes, but they cannot change their skin color) and can easily become victims themselves of police brutality regardless of their wealth and celebrity status. The NFL could and should put more investment dollars in these urban black poor and disenfranchised communities as opposed to creating gentrification opportunities for big corporate real estate investors, which often devalue and steal poor and oppressed people's property to build arenas and playing fields and shopping centers that push poor people out and then revalue the property at astronomical tax values they are not helping to empower black communities. This is the real crime.

Kaepernick chose to use his high profile image to challenge racism and injustice relative to the above mentioned police brutality cases that have seen innocent black men killed by white law enforcement these injustices compelled him to act; he sought to kneel during the playing of the American national anthem, but his dissention was to challenge what was deemed by him as being a fundamental contradiction to the concept of American democracy, which was rooted in a double standard of American hypocrisy (Chattel Slavery and America's history of racism have created a longstanding social and political dichotomy relative to how some black Americans view patriotism and loyalty); the 310 years of dehumanization will always act like a ghost and haunt America in the area of race relations, which was one of the greatest crimes that have ever been committed against humanity. This history has never been rectified (it can only be resolved when reparation and justice is dispensed to the ex-slaves); moreover, some believe that Kaepernick's stance was the epitome of unpatriotic conduct, which stood as a shameful act for an American citizen to commit against the United States Government and their symbols of sovereignty. Kaepernick stated “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color.”

Those who criticized him refuses to look beyond their own biases that is driven by emotionalism he was clear about his position, he no longer could stand for the American flag until the injustices are halted and black and brown people are treated with fairness and is protected by the law (once again Kaepernick's stance was only a small reminder that the national anthem and the American flag means two distinct things to black America and white America). Lets not mistakenly expect this young black athlete to be viewed in the same breathe and light of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B Dubois, Elijah Muhammad, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali, Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Fred Hampton, Mark Clark, etc., These men dared to alter world history by challenging the status quo and the powers-that-be. Sometime it’s mere circumstances that propels us to stand up against injustice—I do not necessarily think that Kaepernick is a student of Black Nationalism and he is probably not a student of radical militant politics, but yet the mass mediums and many in white America would make all types of attempts and assumptions to associate his position with leftist and perhaps even with anarchist groups and ideologies and try to mis-categorize his quest for black social justice by relegating his activism with acts of treason and sedition. But black people still in 2016 who are so-called Americans cannot receive justice and are victims of a highly charged racist police departments throughout America this what is fueling Kaepernick's dissent.

Kaepernick stepped outside of what is expect from the black athlete, they are not paid to become political symbols and pursue political or social justice issues, in particular those issues that deals with race are taboo, and yet Kaepernick's position broke rank with his expectations as an athlete and in today’s era of market brands and being politically correct in which athletes are more concern with marketing themselves for the next contract and pursuing Madison Avenue endorsements rather than standing up for issues that might spark controversy and tarnish their brand (to do what Kaepernick is doing is unique and it is outside of selfishness and ‘me-ism’ that most entertainers and athletes have succumb to in 2016). Trust me Kaepernick will pay a heavy price for his social rebellion; he will be vilified and isolated and will be viewed by the National Football League corporation as a cancer, which must not be allowed to take root and spread amongst other players. The NFL Players Labor Union will not back Kaepernick because his action has the potential to disrupt labor and could cause huge profit losses to the NFL corporation. They desire to sit idly by and attempt to ignore the wealth disparities, the modus operandi of the Prison Industrial Complex, and the militarization of the police departments. Kaepernick's stance only says to us and the NFL, we have a problem and we cannot pretend these social issues do not exist and to ignore Kaepernick's broader argument will only acerbate the American divide.

The National Football League views Kaepernick's protest as perhaps a public relations nightmare because athletes are paid to perform and entertain and not to promote real social justice and although some black athletes such as Jim Brown, Curt Flood, Muhammad Ali , John Carlos and few others decided to be more than just an athlete; they took up the mantle of social justice. Tommy Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games these two courageous athletes stood on the podium that day upon receiving their gold and bronze medals respectively raised their black gloved fist in solidarity of the Black Power Movement. They decided on that big stage to let the world know that they were in agreement with the resistance and the revolutionary movement that was being spearheaded by the black vanguard of our struggle respectively known as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in the 1960s. They refused to turn a blind eye to oppression and injustice. They were clear about the political stand they took. But former heavyweight boxing champion of the world George Foreman grab the American flag and ran around the stadium. His reactionary political stance was to show White America that he was a good loyal Negro and to also let the former slave master children know he was an 'American' and that he didn't support the Black Power movement. Frederick Douglass once stated in a speech "what to the slave is the 4th July".

Some of you may recall the former Louisiana State University (LSU) and Denver Nuggets National Basketball Association basketball player Mahmoud Abdul Rauf (aka Chris Jackson) who converted to the religion of Al-Islam and he too like Kaepernick in the mid 1990s took issue with pledging allegiance to the U.S. flag and standing for the singing of the national anthem. These symbols and notion of patriotism did not resonate with Rauf’s conversion to his new faith tradition of Al-Islam and although, his dissention was rooted more in a religious protest in which he had an affirmation to reconcile his belief in the Five Pillars of Islam in which caused him as a Muslim to question whether or not he could pay homage to the sovereignty of a nation that had stood for oppression and tyranny. Yet, I think both Kaepernick and Rauf shared a central theme, which was drawing the conclusion that America had a history of unresolved injustices and, perhaps after closely reading the words and interpreting the national anthem, it led them both see the hypocrisy and the social contradictions; it also, perhaps brought both of them to the question of race and justice in America. Thus, being black and living the black experience it was easy for them to see two Americas one black and one white. I remember Rauf standing in a Muslim prayers position while the national anthem was being played perhaps as a respectful denunciation.

He was vehemently criticized for showing his allegiance to Allah (God) and although, Rauf’s protest was rooted deeply in the injustices aimed at black Americans but his argument was more shrouded in the complexities of Islam relative to the American culture in the 1990s of course a lot has changed domestically and globally since Rauf made his protest perhaps over 20 years ago, but yet Kaepernick's protest serves as proof positive that a lot still remain the same in America two decades later. Kaepernick's motivation to challenge the status quo was tied directly to race and class and wealth disparity and injustice. The above mentioned high profile police brutality incidents sensitized him to speak out and condemn the innocent killings of black men by white law enforcement officers. Yes, he has been ridiculed by some and praised by others, which has led to some NFL football players not standing for the national anthem as well and even some college and high school players have joined onto Kaepernick's protest; if nothing else Kaepernick's protest has restarted a conversation relative to social justice. The question relative to free speech is, how do we act and receive speech in which we disagree, that is the litmus test to determining our so-called constitutional freedoms and our level of tolerance as a society?

Lastly, like many so-called African Americans this past summer, I watched the summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil in which my interest was to see and applaud the African American/African athletes and to celebrate their accomplishments. They all seem so proud to stand on the podium as so-called Americans in receiving their Gold, Silver and Bronze metals and seeing the American flag being risen and the United States National Anthem being sung must of have sent goose bumps down their spines. But I immediately had to gather myself in recognizing what these young black athletes had accomplished for America and yet simanteously think about the way black people are treated by United States Government and the U.S. police departments at home, it is this contradiction that immediately soured my taste to accept and recognize American patriotism being displayed as less than genuine. I looked at Brazil, which was colonized by the Portuguese and next to the United States, it was Brazil where the most African slaves were transported against their will during the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the Middle Passage.

The media mostly show you the light skinned mulatto Brazilians, but there are over 20 million black Brazilians who are descendants of ex-slaves that the media in Rio do not show you. So I will always salute our right to be treated as human beings and not just be celebrated during athletic events to add to America's medal count. I salute our right to attain complete freedom and be treated under the banner of freedom, justice and equality. Moreover, anyone of these African American, Afro-Caribbean and or African athletes, etc., could be killed in America by white racist police law enforcement. So as we raise the American flag, I think about Sandra Bland, Treyvone Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, etc., and the recent deaths of other Black men at the hands of racist American police officers. I think about the over 100 million African slaves who were kidnapped, raped, dehumanized and enslaved (they were so-called Americans and my tears are for them and my ancestors runs deep). Yes, Black Lives Matter beyond these damn Olympic Games; do not ask me to stand when the flag is being raised and put my hand over my heart when you are still killing us in the streets. One of my idols Muhammad Ali threw his gold medal (Ali won a gold medal in the 1960 Rome Games as a light-heavy weight boxer) in the river. Ali was a free black man and who debunked the shackles of a modern day slave. Treat black people as true Americans and not just during the Olympic Games. Black Lives Matter beyond adding gold metals to America’s count. Thank you Colin Kaepernick for rekindling this much needrd conversation that evolves around social justice, race, class and white privilege.

Fahim A. Knight-El Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-El can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.

DONALD TRUMP: A FRONTMAN FOR THE INVISIBLE RULERS, IT WILL BE BUSINESS AS USUAL

By Fahim A. Knight-El

It still surprises me that many black people and people in general, throughout the United States of America still do not understand that the concept of democracy is an illusion. Let me go right into my topic and analyze the recent election of President-Elect Donald Trump, thus the first thing we must understand is that Trump did not win based on our vote nor did Hillary Clinton lose because of our vote; it has always appeared to me that the Electoral College votes on the surface had more credence in voting the president in than the popular vote (Hillary Clinton actually won the popular vote but lost the election). Both of them have been good operatives and servants of the Hidden Hand and Invisible Rulers no different than President Barack Obama and all prior U.S. presidents and heads of state who were appointed by them. There are mainly three powerful entities that are responsible for setting the global table and determining domestic and global affairs, which means selecting presidents and heads of states, as well as other low-level operatives to serve as frontmen and women and do their bidding. These hidden individuals control the entire world banking and financial systems, and dictate the rise and fall of all global economies—the wealth of the earth is control by this powerful elite minority secretly known as the Rulers of the World; all the reserve currency is at their dictates and discretion. China, Russia, United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, etc., and all other world nation’s functions at their will and pleasure. So we must first understand that our vote do not mean a damn thing, it is only an illusion that we live in a participatory democracy and this gives us false value, which is designed to dim our will to revolt and overturn these Hidden despots and tyrannical leaders.

Donald Trump's business and economic success (his so-called wealth) was a very clear indication that he has had long standing ties with those faceless and nameless Elitist who are consider the rulers of the world and they had, perhaps giving him instructions and marching orders along time ago and he has been a faithful operative before they made the decision to make him U.S. commander-in-chief. Like President Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W.H. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, etc., these frontmen were selected for office and not elected. They ordinarily are mandated to take two oaths, one that is giving in front of a public audience in which the president-elect is swore-in to uphold the U.S. constitution and dutiful carry out their legal and lawful duties to defend and protect the constitution against all foreign and domestic enemies in which this solemn oath is traditionally giving on the Bible (which is considered along with square and compass as one of the Masonic working tools). Yet, each U.S. president is giving a black book which contains 250 years of U.S. Government Secrets this book contains numerical codes and sacred geometry that has been passed down by great ancient mystics and other wisdom imparted by some of the Founding Fathers such as George Washington, a Freemason and by those others who were initiated into the Order of Rosicrucians and they are sworn-in to never admit nor reveal some of the hidden codes to anyone and can be spoken of only in the presences of another past U.S. president or in the hidden chambers of the Invisible Rulers. These past and present Grand and Supreme Architects are members and leaders in some the most powerful secret societies on earth and maintain a global presences in every nation.

They are behind the wars in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq and it is they who are behind the internal religious and sectarian wars and disputes taking place in the Islamic world, in particular between factions of Shia and Sunni Islam that has engulfed the Middle East for over three decades. They consistently use the propaganda machines of mass media to ensure that these induced religious civil wars are viewed by the mass public as an extension of the so-called 'war on terror’; they are also behind the economic downfall of the economy of Greece and just recently with the United Kingdom deciding to exited the European Union—they had insulated this economic and political move by appearing to shift world currency in the Bank of England to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted economic transition—they wanted to further expand the Euro and at same time create an illusion that the British pound would have more value relative to inflation and spending power and then reintroduce the pound as a viable currency back on the world money market. They also were behind inducing the economic collapse of the United States economy in 2008, which led to rearranging Wall Street and restructuring how the global financial markets will interact in the New World Order schemes. They devalued the United States dollar and sent the world economy into a tailspin and in reality, it still has not recovered. Trump takes his orders directly from the Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission and the Council on Foreign Relations just as all of the prior U.S. presidents and his loyalty won him favor to sit in the Oval Office and he will carry out the hidden agenda.

Trump has been the beneficiary of the North American Free Trade Agreement and General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); he used cheap oversees markets and labor in the Far East and Mexico that was caused by U.S. corporate downsizing and outsourcing to enhance his brand and has made billions of dollars off of Bill Clinton's International policies. Trump was giving a master plan during this presidential election; the master decision makers understood that there was a mood of dissatisfaction lurking over America that somewhat stemmed from President Barack Obama being elected in 2008 and 2012 as our commander-in-chief, but the root of the dissatisfaction revolved around race and they gave Trump the game plan to tap into America's most unresolved social dilemma, which was the question of race that has haunted America for over 250 years. Even President Barack Obama was in on these manipulations in which coming into office they had train him on how to play the game of high stakes and what the House of Cards truly meant. Here is an African (or at least of Negroid descent) being invited partially into the house by some of the most powerful men in the world and they ordered him to learn the rules and then gave him the mandate of hearing and obeying (make no mistake about U.S. presidents do not run the country they are figureheads and puppets who take their orders from the Hidden Hand). Thus, he too has been a very good servant and a low-level operative and they will continue to further reward him when his presidential term is over. Donald Trump is a peon and his wealth is very minuscule in comparison to the wealth and power of those who he works for.

Trump became the most recent recipient of a dark past; he used overt and covert language to trigger the fears of white America. Since the 9/11 hoax and the so-called war on terror which has led to Gestapo agencies such as the office of Homeland Security being established and various legislation and executive orders that were enacted to impede upon American citizens civil liberties; it also has led to the discrimination and religious intolerance aimed at Muslim Americans in which many Americans believed that Islam and Muslims are our number one enemies. Trump went on a vicious public attack against Muslims that was rooted in the old historical context of the Crusades of the 11th and 12th Century and like the Jesuits and the Knights Templars he as a white Knight drew his sword in the sand and unlike defending the Christians and Jews quest to settle in the Holy Land of Jerusalem—Trump was giving a mandate to move the global world closer to a One World Government and the New World Order.

President Richard Nixon in his book titled, "Seize the Moment: America's Challenge In A One-Superpower", Nixon authored this book in 1991, and he warned the West that if we did not do a better job understanding the various factions of international Islam relative to the schisms and cultures that if Islamic world ever united (the Europeans are more interested in searching out the coming of the Mahdi because they have to keep the Islamic world divided) and come together it could pose a legitimate political, economic and social nuisance to the west and the east, in particular with Russia and China aligning themselves with so-called radical Islamic factions in Iraq, Iran and Syria (and selling weapons and even militarizing some of America's enemies). Nixon further stated that Islam could pose itself to become our number one enemy and a threat to world peace (of course many of us saw this notion as mere propaganda). However, after the Cold War came to an abrupt end in 1989, the stage was set to create an illusionary enemy, which became Islam. Trump's attacks against Muslim and Islam was rooted in a deep seated Islamophobia and Trump was smart enough in 2016 to raise the conscious level about U.S. national security interest and once again with tough talk about ending Muslim and Arab immigration from entering the United States, it was steadily growing traction. Some would argue that Trump shared a more deeper concern with the electorate, which was, how do we contain domestic terrorism that is so-called caused by U.S. Enemy Combatants and some believe that the Obama's administration and the U.S. Justice Department have been to lax and ineffective, and trump promise to carry a big stick diplomacy in dealing with Muslims both at home and abroad? He also promised his constituents that he would be a law and order president and he reached out to reactionaries like Rudy Giuliani and Governor Chris Christie. He also received huge support from the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Second Amendment Right to the U.S. Constitution advocators; these gun toting patriots shared a theme in which NRA who has viewed certain forces within the Democratic Party who desired to limited American civil liberties by passing legislation to take their guns away and Trump was politically savvy enough to ensure this powerful and influential lobby that he was their candidate and would veto any legislation coming from the Congress that would infringe upon their right to bear arms.

If you notice when he was running during the primaries Trump was like an attack dog the other 19 or 20 Republican Candidates such as season political veterans Senator Ted Cruz, Governor John Kasich, Governor Jeb Bush, Senator Marco Rubio, etc., were longstanding traditional politicians, who were well financed and who thought they had the pulse and grasp of the political issues which they considered important and germane to the American citizens. Trump was a political novice who had no political experience of holding a public office; Trump's campaign and victory also served as a referendum of rejection of the traditional Republican Party's message and their views on conservatism and/or may be Trump just appeared as a breathe of fresh air because perhaps even the political right had grown tired of the political gridlock on Capitol Hill. Trump ran truly as an outsider (not really he has always been and insider) and most of the top Republicans such as Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senator Mitch McConnell did not back Trump, but he diverted their influence by taking his message directly to the people and his victory was a shock and an upstage of the tradition Republican Party so-called having endorsement power. Trump was unique in many ways, he did not take a lot money from special interest groups and lobbyist in which being a billionaire he financed his own campaign. This for better or worse allowed him to control his message and not be swayed by Washington insiders.

However, initially you could tell his understanding of U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East was rooted in ignorance and shallowness—his knowledge of world geography was poor; yet his campaign continued to garnish momentum and by using the code word slogan ‘Lets Make America Great again’ Trump totally understood these words were shrouded historically in the mythology context of race and privilege and they would have an emotional charge for a large segment of the American populist, which was rooted in the white backlash of electing an African American president twice. Trump totally understood those racist sentiments were out there and everywhere he spoke he drew large audiences of mainly white males whom felt that the traditional Republican Party had abandoned their core values. This slogan was being interpreted by the recent American society of angry white men to mean we have lost America to the blacks and Latino immigrants and whether we agree with Trump or not undocumented and illegal aliens, who have crossed the border, have socially and economically impacted the American taxpayers relative to them accessing American services, but simultaneously corporate America has been the equal beneficiaries of cheap immigrant labor coming out of Central and South America; they are the principle laborers in U.S. agribusiness . Trump tapped into white dissension, which allowed him to redraw the United States electoral map relative to what political scientist had deemed to be red states (who voted Republican) and blue states (who voted Democrat) was altered by Trump’s presidential victory in 2016 in favor of the Republican Party (and once the establishment Republicans look back they would owe the Trump movement a debt of gratitude because possibly in the political short term and long term the Republican Party will be the beneficiary of Trump's phenomenon 2016 presidential election.

Trump's appeal of recreating America and bringing jobs back to America resonated with a large portion of our American society, but many past blue collar working towns who had been economically decimated by the fall of American industrialism over 50 years ago where manufacturing and products were made in the United States created an economic vacuum and Trump appealed to a nostalgic aura that has been lost in time and never to return—he knew deep down inside he was selling them a false bill of goods. Trump did not tell them that once an economic system can no longer expand and produce it dies and another economic system rises. Let me the bearer of bad news Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan, etc., I do not care how many promises Trump makes the economy that many of your great-great grandparents carved out an existence, is gone forever in which to never return (Clinton and Bush sealed that deal). Just reason with me the capitalist is not concern about social justice and really are not concern with politics; they want to know how will public policy affect foreign trade, international banking, Wall Street and how will this impact the Gross Domestic Product equation for themselves. America can no longer compete with cheap raw materials and cheap labor overseas.

Trump will continue to be a good servant for the international bankers and will hasten the divide between the 'haves and Havenots' by working to further strengthen the central banking system by continuing to agitate wars with so-called radical Islam and inducing wars are a source of global revenue in which to feed the fat cats in Basil, Switzerland, London, Hong Kong, Paris, Moscow, New York, Tel Aviv, Beijing, Johannesburg, Tokyo, etc. the duping allows for the Hidden Hand to carry out these diabolic plans and maneuvers by keeping the masses distracted (with disinformation and propaganda) while they continue to rob the world of all its conceivable and unconceivable wealth and natural resources. Former President Bill Clinton was an international bankers go between fronting for the likes of Goldman Sachs and spearing heading global initiatives being led by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which set themselves up to exploit more oil reserves on the African continent in anticipating Arab oil drying up and or political instability. Africa is still being raped of its wealth and natural resources since the Portuguese arrived on the coast of West Africa in the 1440s.

ISISL just reminds me of another Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) machination in which this so-called radical and militant Islamic group is in bed with the United States, Russia and Israel in which Bashar Hafez al-Assad of Syria is being used by various foreign entities—Hillary Clinton and Obama knew they had to remove Muammar Gadhafi, the long standing Libyan leader in order establish new foreign alignments and establish new geopolitical landscapes in all of the Maghreb region of North Africa. The Seven Oil Sisters have viewed Gadhafi’s Socialist Regime for over 40 years as a political and economic nuisance to their oil revenue stream, therefore, France, United States and Great Britain used their military intelligence and military capability to assassinate the Libyan leader.

Secretary of State Clinton were being paid handsome speaking honorariums by Goldman Sachs at $650,000 a clip and made it clear that she had a public agenda and a private agenda—the private agenda was perhaps a lot more dangerous and sinister than her public messages and political stances. I saw Hillary Clinton, as being a lot more dangerous and sinister than Donald Trump, but sense she is a Democratic candidate, she gets a free pass from so-called African Americans. But one does not become U.S. Secretary of State unless you know how to play the deceptive foreign policy game—trust me she knows a lot more about the Benghazi hit than she was letting on. When she became U.S. Secretary of State, she used her international influence to assist her husband former President Bill Clinton by positioning him and exerting her State Department international influence to economically empower Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative foundation (so-called non-profit humanitarian organization). She used her high profile status as U.S. Secretary of State to broker diplomatic and economic deals for her husband's so-called non-profit Global Initiative in which would ensure international influence and funnel billions of dollars into the triangle of power arrangement between the global bankers, themselves and other members in the United States Government. The Hidden Hand liked the Clintons, because they have been good servants but Hillary Clinton was starting to get a little sloppy; they signed onto the Bill Clinton's Global Initiative front and provided him with unlimited resources to coral Africa and other Developing Nations, but Hillary and Bill who have for over 40 years used their gifts and talents as an asset to remain in good favor of the Un-Seen Hand however, their recent public image was starting to create a political liability and the Circle, with in a Circle decided to make Donald Trump their man.

Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative is a very powerful foundation and it was established to lobby nations that sought his international influence (Bill ‘Slick Willie’ was in the business of selling influence and is very good at it). Moreover, Bill Clinton has raked in millions of dollars advising Developing Nations by securing them high interest international loans via the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and further using his international influence to impact the political, economic and social systems of client nations. Also the Clinton-Bush Fund allegedly got 54 million dollars for the Haiti Relief Fund after the 2010 devastating earthquake that registered 7.0 magnitude on the Richter scale, which killed more than 230,000 people in Haiti. Bush and Clinton were two rogues who stole a lot money that was earmarked for the Haiti Government. (reference: Peter Schweizwer: Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich).

Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton have always enjoyed a high level of respectability amongst African Americans in which was almost equated to him having celebrity status within the black community (yet Blacks did not come out and vote for Hillary Clinton at the same statistical rate that they voted for Obama in 2008 and 2012 and Hispanics were divided in Florida on Trump). Although, I could never understand the infatuation blacks had towards President Clinton. He after all, along with Senator Newt Gengrich (R-Georgia) former Speaker of the House and the Republican reactionary Congress in the 1990s went on a vicious campaign against the poor of America. These vicious entities inevitable blamed and scapegoated the collapse of America on the poor (women and families) people who were receiving Aid For Dependent Children, which led to a rancorous political assault against Human Services and social programs that benefited the needy and the poor of America. President Clinton justified these governmental programs revisions in the name of siding with the Republicans to better manage so-called big government and the poor became expendable and vulnerable under the eight (8) year reign of the Clinton Administration.

These budget cuts trickledown to hurt poor blacks, poor Latinos and poor whites; this is the same President Bill Clinton that gave greater way to United States Prison Industrial Complex (via the 1994 Crime Bill) in which more black men became incarcerated under the Democrat Clinton than under the Republican President George Herbert Walker Bush. Thus, not only that, it was President Bill Clinton that established and signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that eventually led to American companies heading south of the border to exploit Developing Nations like Mexico in which devastated the domestic employment market inside the country and America has since turned our corporate lifeblood over to Wal-Mart and covertly deemed this as the new 21st Century industry of America. What a pity; does anyone else see these scams?

Fahim A. Knight-El Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-El can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.

FREE DOWNLOAD: I have just uploaded a PDF of my article, "The Mystery of Calcot Park: The Fifth Earl of Rosslyn and the Dogs of War," to my Academia page. The article originally ran in the July 2016 issue of "The Heretic" magazine (#10), and is dedicated to my Grand Uncle Jimmie Nisbet, who was killed 100 years earlier, on 1 July 1916, the first day of combat at the four-month-long Battle of the Somme -- still the single bloodiest day of combat in UK military history. Sometime over a single weekend of that Summer of the Somme, while thousands upon thousands of U.K. soldiers were dying on No Man's Land, the Fifth Earl of Rosslyn was wining and dining 13 of the best-known luminaries of the day at Calcot Park, his country home during WWI -- a meeting that has been lost to history. My article is about why the meeting was held, and why it was "lost" ... The PDF can either be read in your browser window, or downloaded to read at your leisure. As always, I am interested in your comments. Here is the link ...

So yesterday and tonight, History Channel premiered an hour long documentary about Nostradamus predicting the 2016 election results. I want everyone to keep in mind that this network's overall demographic are elderly white males, a large population of which tend to vote Republican. But I'm not here to get political, I'm here to debunk this God-awful documentary.

SPOILERS LIE AHEAD
First, History Channel, maybe not start off an argument about Nostradamus making predictions by saying he took drugs to make his predictions. It's been believed by many scholars that the prophet took a mild hallucinogen before making his predictions. I have nothing against that, but not a good way to start an argument in support of a man.

Second, the two main predictions they site as proof for his prediction being correct have both been debunked, i.e. never happened.

The "new city" prediction:
"Volcanic fire from the center of the earth
will cause trembling around the new city:
Two great rocks will make war for a long time.
Then Arethusa will redden a new river.

About 3 days after the actual attacks this quatrain made the rounds on blogs, some of which mistranslated it as the "City of York" instead of "new city." This was a hoax. Period. He never said this.

Next the "Hister" prediction. Keep in mind Hister means Danube River:

Beasts wild with hunger will cross the rivers,
The greater part of the battle will be against Hister.
He will cause great men to be dragged in a cage of iron,
When the son of Germany obeys no law.

Actual translation:
Beasts mad with hunger will swim across rivers,
Most of the army will be against the Lower Danube.
The great one shall be dragged in an iron cage
When the child brother will observe nothing.

Now let's get back to this documentary. In the program, Nostradamus apparently predicts the election results. By the end of the program, they first say Hillary would win, then Donald. I guess they realized they should cover their ass. But the line that bugged me most was that Nostradamus actually used the phrase "rigged election." As far as I know the word "rigged" is not a word from his vocabulary. It's like they didn't even try. And why the actual fuck would he use "election" when he lived in a country ruled by a monarchy? Why would he so clearly spell out this prediction when he talked in code?

I have to thank all those who commented on the Facebook post for this and called out the BS (https://www.facebook.com/HISTORY/videos/...). Every time a big moment happens in history, we get a Nostradamus show. Let's just keep kicking the dead horse, eh? How about if any of these are true, we tell people about them at least 10 years BEFORE any of this happens. Why bring it up after the fact or two days before the results. Pen and Teller referred to this "withdrawal of information" as perhaps the biggest form of evil in the world.

Please folks, whoever you vote for, don't go by Nostradamus. Go by what you know. If history is so set in stone, then all this program tells you is your vote won't matter. That's a terrible thing to teach History Channel. A terrible thing you have become.

So if you want your story to catch some attention, include end-of-the-world predictions and be aggressive and loud.

Probably it helps to blame someone. Who to blame? I would tend to pick dark nefarious groups that can't be found, because hey, they won't defend themselves. But others will do, "the elite", or "the scientists", or "the mass media".

I’m only 150 pages into this tome. Not far at all given its 600-plus pages of text. I’m taking it slow and easy, as there is a lot of information to digest. But the research in Richard Carrier’s comprehensive study on the origins of Christianity already has me thinking this may be the most important book I will ever read. Though far less ambitious in their aim, I’ve read many others of its kind over the last fifteen years. From Randel Helms and Robert M. Price to G. A Wells and David Fitzgerald (plus the less serious people in the field, including D. M. Murdock and Timothy Freke). Not one of these comes close to the erudition and wide-ranging expertise that we see in Carrier’s On the Historicity of Jesus. Carrier’s book is footnote-heavy and the end notes section is laden with all manner of sources and citations. To say this is a well-researched, scholarly volume is something of an understatement. On top of that, Dr. Carrier, to my great relief, is an excellent and entertaining writer.

I had put off buying this book so long due to two factors: its hefty price tag ($31.00 at Amazon (and this is a paperback not a hardcover)); and also from many of the reviews I read at Amazon and elsewhere, it sounded as though Carrier’s book was a dry academic exercise certain to put the lay reader to sleep. I got the sense it was impenetrable to all but historians and college professors. Thankfully that’s not the case and I’m quite happy to have been proven wrong. Richard Carrier writes in a very accessible style.

One of my strong suspicions after having read all those works is that Christianity must surely have begun as a mystery cult, not unlike the Dionysian, Eleusinian, and Mithraic mysteries. Curiously, we frequently refer to the salvation religions of antiquity as “cults.” I think part of the reason for that is to cast them in a disparaging light, as though to say “Those religions were fraudulent and entertained the hopes of fools, whereas WE (Christianity) are the true faith and definitely NOT like those charlatans.” That is to say, Christianity as a whole does not wish to be painted with the mystery cult brush and seems overly sensitive to that particular slander because it bears so much in common with the very same cults it denounces. But I rather thought I was among the few to suspect these connections to the salvation religions of old. That’s probably because there was no one to talk to about this subject. Try saying something like this to anyone you know. The groans and eye-rolling are immediate. This pretty much cuts off all further discussion of the matter. I think today had I tried a little harder I would have found many a sympathetic ear.

About two weeks ago I was watching a David Fitzgerald presentation on YouTube. From out of nowhere Fitzgerald said, and I’m paraphrasing here: Christianity is not LIKE a mystery cult. It IS a mystery cult! Needless to say, I was shocked to hear him announce this so unambiguously. Imagine then my further surprise when I discovered two days ago this is one of the arguments Richard Carrier is making in his On the Historicity of Jesus. But unlike Fitzgerald’s brief statement, Carrier has laid out all the evidence and makes a very compelling case.

Although I have a long way yet to go before finishing On the Historicity of Jesus, I have little doubt Richard Carrier has in store far more surprises for the reader

On a related note, something odd occurred at the very beginning of the Christian era. It’s referenced in Paul’s epistles, but Paul is vague on the subject, giving us far too little information to make much sense of it. But it’s also alluded to elsewhere in historical documents (the commentaries of some of the church fathers, for example), and what we see is the following. There were strange groups of people who were apparently Christians preaching, practicing, and believing something far different from Paul's message. These groups are often placed under the umbrella term of “Gnostics.” The perception is they were somehow fringe elements and later offshoots of literalism. At least that’s the refrain we hear so often from many modern day scholars. But it appears more and more that was not the case—the Gnostics appear to have been there from the very beginning. Many of the Gnostics viewed Christ not as a historical person but rather as a cosmic, spiritual entity. And the oddity I mentioned is this: how is it that so soon following the alleged crucifixion of Jesus we see such wildly different interpretations of the kind evident in Gnostic thinking? It seems to have happened immediately. This is a very conspicuous WTF moment in history. I think it suggests—and it is ONLY a suggestion, which should not to be confused for proof—that Christ as a mythical figure was the original belief, and literalism the later development.

Bart Ehrman says in his Lost Christianities that contrary to popular perception these groups of Gnostics were very often NOT separate movements, they were not bands of wandering mystics, or anything of the kind. Rather these people were right there in the churches, sitting in the same pews as the rest of the congregation. They were co-religionists. What is further illustrated by the aforementioned commentaries is—wait for it: there were different levels of initiation within the early church. There were the beginners, the outer levels initiated into the church by baptism and who partook of the Eucharist and understood scripture in the literal sense. And then there were those occupying the elevated ranks, who understood scripture as allegories meant to convey higher spiritual truths. Paul and others allude to this as well. All of this information leads us to conclude Christianity was in all probability a mystery religion or salvation cult. Like the Orphic mysteries or the cult of Isis and Osiris, Christianity had a mythical founding figure (Jesus Christ). One of the big differences between the adherents of the mysteries and Christianity is that the former KNEW their savior deities were not actual people having lived on the Earth. Not so with the later Christians of the 2nd or 3rd centuries and beyond. Somewhere along the way, either intentionally or by accident, the adept levels of initiation were dispensed with. Today there seems only to exist the exoteric or outer understanding of Christian scripture. These are read literally as historical documents, which has led to a great deal of misunderstanding over the last two millennia.

I suspect the doing away with the various levels was deliberate. I just read in Carrier’s book something fascinating about Plutarch (46 CE – 120 CE). Plutarch lays out the problems with the mysteries HE was affiliated with. The short version goes like this: if novices were exposed to the higher meanings of the faith without the spiritual maturity to understand these allegories, they would see them as ridiculous and abandon the group altogether. So to maintain membership the newcomers were kept in the dark and only introduced to the information in dribs and drabs as they attained higher ranks within the system.

Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, and even the Church’s first historian Eusebius echo very similar sentiments.